The Future of Urban Education Part 2

"In Part 2 of this series, The Future of Urban Education, Steve Adubato moderates a panel discussion addressing the unique challenges facing urban schools. This panel examines the similarities and differences of charter schools and public schools, how parents and children in Newark are choosing schools outside of their neighborhoods to get the best possible education and the key aspects to maintaining a successful public school.

Guests Include:

Sarah Keh, Director of Corporate Giving at Prudential FinancialDr. Marcia Lyles, Superintendent of Jersey City Public SchoolsA. Robert Gregory, Deputy Superintendent, Newark Public SchoolsMichele Adubato, Chief Executive Officer of The North Ward CenterMayor Ras J. Baraka, City of Newark, NJChristopher Cerf, Former Superintendent of Newark Public SchoolsMichele Mason, Executive Director of the Newark Charter School FundState Senator M. Teresa Ruiz (D) - NJ, Assistant Majority Leader and Chairwoman of the Senate Education CommitteeDr. Benjamin Justice, Professor for the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University

3/17/18 #3102

Excerpt:

"Hi, I'm Steve Adubato. This is one of the most compelling forums I've ever been a part of in my 25 plus years as a broadcaster. This is a forum on the future of urban education. If you caught the last one, you'll appreciate what we're about to do. If you haven't caught it, or didn't catch it, go back online, you'll see our website, you'll see the first part of this. This is a fascinating conversation! The mayor has had interesting things to say about this, the Superintendent, Senator, others. But let's put the charter school situation in context. Charter schools started in Newark...? 20 years ago. Yes. 20 years ago? Yup. 20 years. What percentage of Newark school age children are going to public slash charter schools versus more traditional public schools? Do we have a sense of that? It's about 32%. 32%. 32%? That's 18,000 students' parents who've chosen a charter school as their option here in the City. Has it gone up considerably Michele? It has in the last 10 years. And it started at about 10%, and it's grown to a third of students right now. Could you define a public charter school, if you will? A public charter school is a free education to students, where school leaders have autonomy to really manage their budgets, to hire, fire teachers, and meet the needs of the students. And so there's a little bit of autonomy and freedom, and a little bit of innovation, that allows the school leader to make decisions on location to meet the needs of the... And traditional public schools do not have all of those...? Freedoms. Correct. Freedoms. Charter schools are putting students on the path to and through college. You know, here in Newark, with a third of students in charter schools, and we're the second highest performing charter sector across the country, and we're proud of that. That means more and more black and brown kids are reading and writing on grade level. They're getting access..."